Mark J Sullivan/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Each of the major-party U.S. presidential candidates met with the prime minister of Israel Sunday in New York, sources in the two campaigns told ABC News.
Republican nominee Donald Trump met with Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday morning at Trump Tower. Democrat Hillary Clinton met the Israeli leader Sunday evening at The W Hotel USQ in Manhattan.
Netanyahu has been in New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
The press was barred from covering Trump’s meeting with the prime minister but offices for both said they discussed Israeli security and efforts to achieve peace in the Middle East. Their meeting lasted over an hour and included discussion of the Iran nuclear deal, of which Trump and Netanyahu are fierce critics; military assistance; security; and regional stability.
“Mr. Trump recognized that Israel and its citizens have suffered far too long on the front lines of Islamic terrorism,” said a statement from Trump’s office. “He agreed with Prime Minister Netanyahu that the Israeli people want a just and lasting peace with their neighbors, but that peace will only come when the Palestinians renounce hatred and violence and accept Israel as a Jewish State,”
According to Netanyahu’s office, “Prime Minister Netanyahu thanked Mr. Trump for his friendship and support for Israel.”
Trump, in 2013, recorded a video endorsing Netanyahu.
The candidates’ meetings with the Israeli leader take place a day before Trump and Clinton face off at their first general election presidential debate Monday night at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York.
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